


Trying

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, half-demon!Damian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick was a little ashamed to say that in all of the hubbub – in the return of Bruce’s body, the visits from the Justice League, his own emotional collapse, the funeral arrangements – he’d forgotten about the boy. Forgotten about the only one of them who actually shared genes with the one who had fallen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trying

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt for 600 tumblr followers. An AU where the al Ghuls are demons, so Damian is half demon, half human.
> 
> I imagine Damian would be very similar to how he is now, with just a bit of…I don’t know the proper word, mysticism? And he wouldn’t be in Gotham because he wanted to know his father, though that would be part of the reason. He’s there because Ra’s wanted to kill him, as stated, because he’s part demon and human, and Ra’s/older demons frown upon that. The al Ghuls were still sort of royalty, though, so Damian’s still a little shit, though is a bit mellowed because Talia was murdered in front of him. This might not be exactly what you wanted, sorry :/ Set when Bruce is ‘dead.’

For having the blood of creatures from the underworld, the child was awfully fond of high places.

Dick was a little ashamed to say that in all of the hubbub – in the return of Bruce’s body, the visits from the Justice League, his own emotional collapse, the funeral arrangements – he’d forgotten about the boy. Forgotten about the only one of them who actually shared genes with the one who had fallen.

He was grateful the kid didn’t find his way to the highest peak of Wayne Manor, but just the garage. The only sort-of-one-storey building on the grounds. Not that higher would have been a problem, but…

Dick wasn’t in the best mindset to not have a safety net right now.

He sighed as he strolled out onto the driveway, jerking a shaky hand through his hair as he glanced up towards the angled roof. Damian sat there with his hood up, and knees curled to his chest, one arm tight around them. His other arm was outstretched, letting some animal crawl along it. In the sun’s dying light, it took Dick a moment to recognize it as a bat.

How…ironically cute.

“Hey.” He called loudly, but gently, hoping to convey friendliness. It was a concept Damian still struggled with, and one Dick still struggled to offer himself. Damian’s sharp eye glanced up, but he said nothing. “What’re you doing up there?”

“Minding my own business.” Damian countered, and already Dick could feel annoyance building in his gut. This kid was a brat, and Dick’s tolerance of him, though better than anyone else’s in their family, was incredibly low. “Something perhaps _you_ should learn, Grayson.”

“I’ll think about it.” Dick answered dryly, glancing towards the heavens. After a moment he sighed, letting his gaze drop back to the child. To his…his brother, technically. “…How are you doing, Damian?”

Damian seemed to actually consider the question. “Is everyone gone?”

“Superman and the other League members have left, yes.”

“Then significantly better.”

“Funny.” Dick drawled. “But you know that’s not what I meant.”

It was Damian who broke the eye contact this time. Eyes gliding down to the roof tiles as he slowly buried his nose against the sleeve across his knees. The skittering bat filled the silence. “I…do not know how to answer that.”

“That’s fair.” Dick tried to smile, because he was in that boat too. “Want to try?”

Damian shifted from using his sleeve as a cover to a shelf, hooking his chin around it. “A man I hardly know is dead.” He said slowly. “And I am supposed to be mourning.”

“That’s true.”

“I am a demon. Or at least, partly. I am supposed to be confident and feared.” Damian continued. Dick glanced down at those deadly nails – his _claws_ – just barely peeking out of the sweatshirt’s sleeves. It was Bruce’s sweatshirt, he realized suddenly, and far too big for the ten-year-old to fit in properly. “Instead I am…scared.”

“That’s not a bad thing.”

“He promised I would never have to go back to my grandfather. That he would protect me from ever having to go through prosecution for being a…a _half-breed_ again.” Damian rocked his head to the side, watching as the bat on his arm fell to a hang. “Now that he is gone, I don’t…I don’t know what that means for me.”

Dick blinked, remembering when Bruce made the promise, the day they all met the boy. After they found out that the boy had been born in secret, a lovechild of Bruce and Talia’s accidental making. After Ra’s had sent his underlings to kill ‘the half-blood’ for the crime of being an abomination. 

That’s why he was in Gotham, after all. Bruce had brought him here for his safety. To keep him away from the lands and unholy beings who spurned him.  

And he saw Damian’s dilemma – because Damian didn’t like any of them. He hadn’t been here long, two months if you rounded up, and spent most of that time trying to curb his nature, trying to please Bruce and show him his gamble had been worth it, that he was not the monster his blood or upbringing claimed him to be. He didn’t waste time with siblings and allies, and more often than not looked down on all of them.

So now, the only one he had a relationship was gone, and no one else in this family – this city, even this _country_ – had a stake in his livelihood. And the kid was self-aware enough to know that any efforts to appease them now would be too little too late. And even if it wasn’t, the boy was too proud to beg.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next.” Damian admitted quietly. His eyes had dropped again, and Dick couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The son of demon heiress Talia al Ghul and nighttime vigilante Bruce Wayne had never, in all the weeks Dick knew him, _ever_ looked so…so _human_.

Dick had lost his whole world when Bruce died. Turned out, someone else had too.

The bat on Damian’s arm was suddenly spooked, and flew off into the night.

How appropriate.

“Well. If it makes you feel better, neither do I.” Dick tried, with a halfhearted smile. “But, Damian. Bruce’s promise to you still stands.”

“Does it?” Damian asked dreamily, dropping his arm. “And, pray tell, Grayson. Who is here to enforce it?”

“Well, _me_.” He drawled. “And Tim, too. And Alfred and Babs and Cass…probably Clark, too. If we asked.”

Damian just scoffed. Rolled his eyes and pulled the hood tighter over his head.

“I’m serious.” Dick snapped, stepping forward, despite the uselessness of the motion. “When Bruce promised to protect you, he didn’t just mean himself, contrary to what you think or even _want_. He meant himself and his family. _Your_ family.”

Damian still wouldn’t look at him.

“And we don’t have to like you to want to keep you safe.”

Damian hummed at the proclamation. “And suppose it would be easier for you all to just hand me over the second Grandfather appears? Because you know he will. And I wouldn’t put it past Drake to immediately acquiesce. He said so himself.”

“To be fair, he said that after you bit his arm and tried to curse him.” Dick allowed. “But, no. He wouldn’t really.” A pause. “And we can go ask him, if you come down off the roof.”

“Was that your whole point of this conversation?” Damian asked. “To get me to open up and convince me to come downstairs? I’ve been up here for _hours_ , and I’ve been just fine.”

 _‘It’s not like you noticed I was gone.’_ was unsaid, and filled the silent space between them.

“There was a lot going on today.” Dick said in lieu of an apology. “But no, that wasn’t the point of the conversation. I just…I’ve been through this before, you know. Losing a parent? Losing…losing both almost at the same time.” His mind flashed to Talia’s broken and burning body and shuddered. “And I know it’s not a time you should be alone.”

“I wasn’t alone.” Damian huffed, but it was quiet and unsure. “I had Theodore.”

“Theodore?”

“The bat.” Damian clarified. “I found him in there the chimney this afternoon. He was stuck, so I helped him out and gave him some food.”

“Oh.” Dick wanted to coo. Or smile. Damian may have been annoying, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sweet when he wanted to be. That had to be from Bruce’s biological influence, he was sure of it. “Well, Theodore’s gone for now, so. Maybe I can try to take his place of company.”

“I highly doubt you can.” Damian replied. “For one, he was a _much_ better conversationalist.”

“Well, we don’t know until we try.” Dick chuckled, holding his hand up. “What do you say?”

Damian pursed his lips as the wind blew. He tried to duck against it, but it still managed to blow his hood back, exposing the short, stumpy horns mixed in with his dark hair.

“…Can I really stay here? In Gotham?” He asked sheepishly. “Even though Father’s gone?”

“Of course.”

“Can I…” Damian bit his lip, exposing one of his tiny fangs. “Can I stay with you?”

Dick didn’t mention that that was exactly what was requested of him in Bruce’s will. Or the fact that probably no one else would accept him into their homes. Instead, he smiled. Genuinely this time. “Wouldn’t have it any other way, kid.”

Damian hesitated still. Dick could see the muscles in his legs tightening, as if he wanted to get up, or perhaps run away. Could see the internal struggle clear as day.

“But we don’t have to worry about all that now. Save it for tomorrow. Or next week, even.” Dick attempted to shake it off. “Let’s just take one step at a time, okay? How about dinner? Think we can try that first? I know a great place by Gotham City Park.”

It was a slow nod as he finally, _finally_ stood, and shimmied his way to the edge. Dick lowered his arm, but remained tense. He knew he didn’t have to catch the kid, knew that the demon blood in his veins was good for something and that a seven-foot drop wouldn’t do a thing, but still remained at the ready. Just in case.

Damian dropped effortlessly to the ground and glanced curiously, almost _nervously_ , up at Dick, who was starting to think that maybe, just _maybe_ , he really could learn to like this kid.

“Okay.” He decided haughtily, shoving his hands into the hoody’s front pocket as he stepped up to Dick’s side. “We can try dinner first.”


End file.
